Seven-Segment Display Code

Seven-segment display are very common and are found almost everywhere, from pocket calculators, digital clocks and electronic test equipment to petrol pumps. A single seven-segment display or a stack of such displays invariably meets our display requirement. There are both LED and LCD types of seven-segment display. Furthermore, there are common anode-type LED displays where the arrangement of different diodes, designated a, b, c, d, e, f and g, is as shown in Fig. (b), and common cathode-type displays where the individual diodes are interconnected as shown in Fig. (c). Each display unit usually has a dot point (DP).

Seven-Segment Displays

Seven-segment LED display

Common anode-type displays

Common cathode-type displays

Seven-Segment Display Code

The DP could be located either towards the left (as shown) or towards the right of the figure ‘8’ display pattern. This type of display can be used to display numerals from 0 to 9 and letters from A to F. Table seven-segment display code above gives the binary code for displaying different numeric and alphabetic characters for both the common cathode and the common anode type displays. A ‘1’ lights a segment in the common cathode type display, and a ‘0’ lights a segment in the common anode type seven-segment display.